Biden comforted by sister just a week after prostate cancer diagnosis as Jill is nowhere to be seen
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Joe Biden, 82, was spotted attending church just a week after his shock cancer diagnosis.
Photos exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail show Biden exiting a service at his longtime home church of St. Joseph on the Brandywine just down the road from his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
He was seen in the images arm-in-arm with his sister Valerie Biden Owens, 79, leaving the Sunday church service.
Former first lady Jill Biden, 73, was not spotted among those at Sunday's service.
The former president's Memorial Day weekend outing came exactly one week after his office announced his diagnosis of an 'aggressive form' of prostate cancer.
Biden was pictured after the mass walking among the gravestones alongside the church where his son, Beau, is buried. He visited the grave like he often does after church services.
It's expected that Biden will come back to the Catholic church later this week, as he does every year on May 30 for a special service to mark the death date of his son, who passed from brain cancer at the age of 46 in 2015.
Earlier this month, Biden's personal office announced that a 'small nodule' was found on the former president's prostate that needed further evaluation.
The office followed up a week later with a statement revealing the grave diagnosis.
Doctors told Biden on May 16 he had prostate cancer characterized by a Gleason score of 9 within grade group 5 that had metastasized and spread to his bones. Two days later his office made the information public.
A 'Gleason score' is provided to all prostate cancers and measures how the cancerous cells look compared with normal cells. Biden's score of 9 suggests his cancer is among the most aggressive.
'While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,' his office noted.
No updates have been provided since then other than Biden posting a smiling selfie to social media alongside his more somber wife and former first lady Jill who was holding their gray tabby cat Willow.
Biden was, however, seen in public on Thursday for the first time since the diagnosis.
New Haven, Connecticut's ABC affiliate WTNH reported Friday that Biden was was spotted at the Woodland Restaurant in Lakeville the night prior.
The station said that upon arriving in the state, a crowd cheered for the former president as he walked through Bradley International Airport.
On Friday, Biden's daughter Ashley posted photos of her son Robert 'Hunter' Biden's high school graduation.
That Hunter is the son of the late Beau Biden and he graduated from Salisbury School in Connecticut on Friday, May 23.
Former President Biden's diagnosis shook the country, but not because of the dire prognosis.
Rather, conservatives and the online MAGAverse were quick to claim Biden knew of his diagnosis long before it was revealed to the world – and that hiding it was part of a coverup to conceal his declining health.
Even President Donald Trump, who sent his well wishes to his predecessor shortly after the diagnosis, repeated conspiracies last week that Biden knew he had cancer for a long time.
'I'm surprised that it wasn't, you know, the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that's a long time,' Trump said during an event at the White House on May 19.
Biden was forced to shut down the speculation.
'Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,' a spokesperson for the former president insisted on Tuesday.
It added that Biden did not have the test done to check for prostate problems for over a decade: 'President Biden's last known PSA was in 2014.'
Doubt over the timing of the diagnosis swiftly grew considering that Biden, as president, was likely routinely checked for the levels that indicate prostate cancer.
When in office presidents receive thorough annual physicals, at the very least.
This would likely include for someone of Biden's age a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which measures the level of PSA in the blood. If elevated, this marker could indicate prostate cancer or other prostate conditions.
